How to send video stream to soap web service?

Are there any services that let you store video in your Dropbox and play the video embedded in a web browser?

• A user has a copyrighted video file that they want to watch on any platform with a browser. They own the licensing rights to the digital copy or have used something like Handbrake to rip a DVD that they own. They put the file into a folder in their Dropbox and the 3rd party service encodes the video and stores it in a place it can be streamed. The user, and that user alone, can then stream the video in the browser on any device. Neither the service, nor other users of the service have access to the video content. Does such a service exist, and would it be illegal for either the service provider or the user?

• Answer:

  The service you suggest is copyright infringement unless you created the video yourself. You cannot legally rip a DVD in the United States because they all have copy protection and it is illegal to circumvent copyright protections in any way. Even if it did not have copyright protections, the exception in US copyright law called Fair Use does not allow cloud storage as a form of "space shifting". Clearly there are no guarantees that "only that user" will be able to view the streamed video, since all it takes it the user sign-on details to grant anyone access. And while the service might make a Terms of Service or perhaps a Privacy Statement that says they will not have access to the file, for technical purposes, they clearly do have access. There have been several lawsuits against companies that tried to share live broadcast TV (usually sporting events taped off cable) on a streaming service. Invariably the service has lost the lawsuit, even though the footage is not protected by the copyright protections found on DVDs. The only way in which this would be legal for the user is if the user posts videos they have created themselves, just like YouTube. This would be legal for the service, provided that they responded to DMCA take-down requests and did not seem to be built around a business model requiring users to infringe copyrights (like MegaUpload did). I should point out that even though MegaUpload did not do this Dropbox element of your plan, they did all of the rest (in addition to making files publicly downloadable, if users desired). The whole private video thing has been done and failed. Your system does have one thing going for it: copyright holders (movie studios) are not likely to be aware that you are breaking criminal and civil laws around copyright if it is truly just the DVD "owner" viewing his videos. That would sustain the system for a year or two before the law got the needed subpoenas to view the hidden videos and then shut the service down, possibly with lawsuits against the users of the service.